Tata Steel Europe may cut more jobs in future due to the global slowdown. This was stated by the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Steel Europe, Karl Ulrich Kohler, on the sidelines of the World Steel Conference here on Thursday.
He said job cuts will be a process that goes on. “You have definitely to expect further corrections,” Kohler said when asked about the company’s earlier announcement that it would cut 1,500 jobs in Europe.
Kohler said the company is looking for newer areas for exports, to make up for the subdued demand in Europe. “We will try to make Tata Steel Europe fit for a much worse condition, as I said for all-weather,” he added.
He said Tata Steel Europe is trying to export “a bit more” as demand has fallen in Europe.
“Everything that is coastal is of large interest to us, so we are looking at North African regions, we are looking at Mediterranean area, Africa. We are also trying to complement our offerings in India with some special products from Europe which we don’t have in India,” he added. H. M. Nerurkar, Tata Steel Managing Director, said it will be difficult to meet the country’s capacity target of 200 million in 2020. “Our policy on raw material, particularly on iron ore, is not clear. Unless this happens, it is not going to enhance capacity. That’s a major issue,” Nerurkar said. He added that the work of the Kalinga Nagar plant in Orissa is going on smoothly.
Short Range Outlook
The Short Range Outlook of the World Steel Association for 2012 and 2013 forecasts that global steel use will increase by 2.1 per cent in 2012, which is much lower than the 6.2 per cent growth achieved in 2011.
The SRO was released on the concluding day of the 46{+t}{+h} annual World Steel Conference here on Thursday. The Chairman of the Worldsteel Economics Committee, Hans Jürgen Kerkhoff, said the economic situation, particularly in Europe, is likely to deteriorate further. The report said due to both unfavourable domestic and external economic conditions, India’s steel demand growth is projected to slow down to 5.5 per cent in 2012 and 5 per cent in 2013.
“Apparent steel use will reach 73.6 mt in 2012 and 77.3 mt in 2013,” it added.